Recently, proposals have been made for adoption of standards for high density, multi-terminal electrical connectors of a type identified as "Small Computer Standard Interface" (SCSI) connectors. The most recent standard (American National Standard), identified as SCSI-2 (the "2" signifying a second generation), specifies a set of dimensions for male and female connectors of this type, as well as the assignment of particular functions to specific ones of the terminal contacts. Arrangements such as fifty contact or sixty-eight contact connectors are contemplated in the SCSI-2 standard. The "high density" characteristic of these connectors is related to the fact that the contacts are arranged, for example, in two equal, parallel rows (either twenty-five contacts per row or thirty-four contacts per row) with adjacent contacts (or pins) spaced 1.27 millimeters (0.050 inches) apart. Prior to this proposal, connectors of this general type employed a pitch (spacing) twice as great (i.e., 0.100 inches).
Where close spacing of pins or contacts is required, so-called "IDC" (insulation displacing contact) configurations generally are employed (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,949, Lopata et al., granted Oct. 1, 1991 for one representative IDC arrangement). Where an IDC configuration is used, particular attention must be paid to accurate insertion of the individual wires of a cable into the knife-edge contacts which serve to displace the insulation from the wire to insure that good electrical contact is made, while at the same time, insuring that the wire is not excessively weakened when the knife-edge cuts into the wire. Use of an IDC arrangement also imposes a requirement that variations in the diameter of wires and insulation for a given connector assembly be relatively small. Special assembly tools generally are also required for each different IDC cable configuration.
An alternative to the use of an IDC contact is a so-called "crimp/snap" contact as is generally shown, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,371--Maynard, granted Jun. 18, 1868, or U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,538--Gruhn et al., granted Oct. 28, 1975 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,543--McCleerey et al., granted Dec. 10, 1985 (see also, Product Line Catalog, Holmberg Electric Corporation, Inman, S.C., pages 22-23). Crimp/snap contacts provide for relative ease of assembly, superior electrical characteristics and the ability to withstand greater physical abuse than IDC contacts. However, crimp/snap contacts employ barrel-shaped crimping flanges which surround the outside of the insulation of a wire, the crimping flanges themselves being conductive and connected to (generally integral with) the portion of the contact which directly engages the uninsulated conductive wire. The relatively large diameter of the conductive crimping flanges (as compared to the smaller diameter of the associated conductor) generally requires greater wire to wire spacing and, heretofore, precluded the use of a crimp/snap cable connector in a high density assembly, as that term is defined above.